The Falsities of Astrology
Precession; one word is all it takes to prove that Astrology is not scientifically viable. This article attempts to persuade those who still take refuge in the daily horoscopes that they are misdirecting their efforts.
Astronomy and astrology were both created from the study of the night sky. Astronomy attempts to unveil the true nature of the Universe and scientifically proves its results by demonstrating them on Earth or being able to physically see its effects. Astrology however, has only been able to survive in society by relying on gullible people not questioning its validity.
Both in astronomy and astrology, the night sky is divided into a series of constellations that make it easier to track the movements of galactic objects by providing a background against which to state the objects position. Astrology goes further by saying that at the time of a persons birth, the Sun is positioned in’ a certain constellation. From there it dictates an individuals personality traits and habits (putting them into the same bracket as a 12th of the population of the Earth), and goes so far as to predict the day-to-day events of the individual.
Putting aside the fact that the constellations are merely dot-to-dots’ of stars making up pictures or symbols that many argue are insignificant, to allow the easy identification of the stars; there are many other factors that prove its absurdity:
Astrological constellations differ from those set by ancient people. On modern star charts, there are eighty eight constellations, but only 12 are used in astrology. Astrologers seemed to think that as the calendar year was divided equally, the sizes of the constellations should be too. This meant that they trimmed’ sections off the constellation Virgo, and added them (along with bits of Scorpio) to Libra in order to bring it up to size!
Science is an ever-changing study, even in the field of astronomy, where everything is looked at a large scale and processes take millions of years to complete. Astrology has not updated itself with the movement of astronomy, and the biggest mistake of all is that it does not account for precession of the equinoxes’. Precession is the process by where the Earths axis (which is set at a tilt of 23.5) slowly changes its orientation, which means that its position changes against the backdrop of stars. A precessional cycle takes roughly 26,000 years to complete.
Astrology says that if a person were born on the 21st March in 1985, they would be an Aries; however, due to precession, the Sun would actually be in the constellation of Pisces at the time of their birth! This demotes all discoveries’ and predictions’ made under the name of astrology and in my opinion discredits the whole subject. This surely concludes that astrology is no more than a collection of obscene claims, arranged to lure the uneducated into believing something that is simply not real.
